Some times injuries can influence the perception of being a bust or not. You can debate the merits of whether or not these guys were busts or maybe there were other mitigating factors but all of them suffered because of injuries and I consider them all to be busts with the possible exception of Chris Perry who I liked a whole lot.

^ First of all, most of those were top 10 picks. If not mistaken, James was selected like 25th overall. Give the guy time, he was sensational at Alabama paving the way for a national championship team & for Mark Ingram to win the Heisman trophy. He's a good kid/teammate. He's very tough and played through a lot of nagging injuries with the Tide. Guys!!!! he's been in the league for less than 2 years!!...and he already has shown starting potential. Thats not a bust. If he is on IR for most of the next 3 seasons, then yes he can be considered an injury bust....but until then there's no justification to say that about James. He's got a good work ethic and will come back even stronger.

I updated the list above with their respective draft positions. There's a few that were in Carpenter's range. I wasn't saying that Carpenter IS a bust - I was just posting a rebutal to the previous poster who said that a player should not be considered a bust due to injury. I just came up with a quick list of players who busted out of the NFL where injuries were a contributing factor. Carpenter is still young and has time to prove himself and prove that he's not injury prone. Many were arguing that Stafford was a bust when he couldnt' stay healthy early in his career but now he's got 2 injury-free seasons under his belt and is looking like a great pick.

I'm a huge fan of Carpenter - I think he's got a lot of potential in this league and as a Seahawks fan I hope he can get healthy to reach that potential. He's a big road-grader type blocker that fits really well with what they want to do.

Doesn't mean they can't play though just means they can't stay on the field due to injury.